. >> susie: and how technology is making it possible for doctors to go paperless. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r."! >> susie: the first day of the new quarter, kicks off with a blue chip rally. investors were encouraged by a report showing that american factories were busy in september. a popular index of national factory activity rose to 51.5 last month, from 49.6 in august. it was the fastest pace of production since may. but that upbeat news was overshadowed by comments from federal reserve chief ben bernanke, saying the economy is not growing fast enough to bring down the unemployment rate. we'll have more on that in a moment. those two events led to volatile trading here on wall street. the dow rose about 78 points, but was up as much as 155 points earlier. the nasdaq drifted in and out of positive and negative territory, finally losing more than 2.5 points, and the s&p rose almost four points. and, as suzanne pratt reports there are conflicting views on the state of american manufacturing. >> reporter: from cardboard boxmakers, to icemakers, to uniform manufacturers, fact